Comparison Of Branagh's And Much Ado About Nothing

Though they adapt the same source material, through the skillful use of setting and cinematography, the openings of Joss Whedon’s and Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing present vastly different moods. Both contain sequences not featured in the text that add to their vision of Shakespeare’s original work - a triumphant and frenzied entrance in a bucolic setting for one, and an intimate abandonment in the other. Branagh’s production is a show, choosing to downplay the darker aspects of the play. Instead, with sweeping scores it is a spectacle of light, humor, and performance on a large scale, very theatrically utilizing the text. Whedon’s film, however, highlights Much Ado’s darker nature, and occupies a more cinematic landscape, opening on a much more personal story of two wronged people laced with bitterness. The tone and themes …show more content…
Whedon’s own home is used as Leonato’s estate, a fact heavily marketed alongside the film, and so inescapably intrusive. The audience is, on some level, forced to recognize that the little girl’s bedroom that Benedick and Claudio wrestle in is Whedon’s daughter’s room, the party guests at the masquerade are Whedon’s close friends, and the art on the walls is from his own life (Lanier 121). This intentionally invoked intrusiveness is exploited many times throughout the film, particularly in regards to the very structure of the house itself. Unlike the grand outdoors of Branagh’s film, here the action never travels outside the close-confines of the immediate home. While Whedon’s house is not quite reminiscent of the city Barton advocates for, its small scale creates the desired atmosphere of claustrophobia, which is exposed by the camera angles. Whedon arranges many shots so that the camera must look through a doorway or window, as if the audience itself eavesdropping along with the characters. Whedon fashions a world conducive for “noting” and wrought by